IMF urges caution as house prices surge globally

IMF assistant director Prakash Loungani tells Eamon Quinn about concerns over the supply chain crunch affecting housing

The IMF in its new research has been monitoring the house price increases already evident at the end of last year as the global economy emerged from its worst crisis since the great financial crash of over a decade ago. Picture: Sam Boal

The IMF has said it's time to be cautious about a new global house prices boom in many countries including in Ireland, that is being fuelled by an unusual mix of increases in the costs of building materials and by mortgage rates at rock-bottom levels.

In an interview, Prakash Loungani, assistant director at the IMF in Washington, said low interest rates and surging building materials costs amid the huge disruption that the Covid crisis had caused to global supply chains, were common factors helping to push house prices higher around the world.